


The Fires Of Forever

by Oaklin



Series: Forever Everything [16]
Category: International Wrestling Syndicate, Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Beef is relieved I'm sure, M/M, Sami is really bad at communication, Swearing, We love him anyway, and regular angst, because Kevin isn't in this one, because he is an adorable ball of social awkwardness, descriptions of semi gross things, drunk!Beef, drunk!Evryone, drunk!Excalibur, drunk!SuperDragon, except Sami, he probably got stuck being the designated driver, i don't think the Kevin warning is necessary here, mostly good natured friendly ribbing, sad!Sami, stealth angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-16 23:16:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8121418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oaklin/pseuds/Oaklin
Summary: Confused and upset, baby!Sami slogs his way through uncertainty before finding his resolve.
However, this is not a Shonen series, so his resolve means diddly in the face of real life social situations that require him to be better at human interaction than he is.
In short, Kevin is a pouty bastard and Sami is distressed. 
Business as usual.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello o/
> 
> I live!
> 
> This week was- not better but ...calmer? Sure, that works. Anyway, this was good stress relief. Although just like last week this is super short and rushed because I had like, an hour to edit this and it was a MESS.
> 
> In my defense, this was written on a roll of paper tape at four in the morning on the longest car ride in the known universe while I was jumped up on caffeine and jolly ranchers I found on the floor boards, that I still haven't decided were poison or not.
> 
> Meh, whatever. This is kinda sloppy, but I don't really want to jump ahead to the more interesting parts until we get this character establishing stuff done (which might never actually happen. if you couldn't tell, I like character building) so you're stuck with my boring world building stuff for now.
> 
> (to be honest, appreciate it while it lasts. we'll be going down all those awesome dark roads later, so take the semi nice stuff while you can ;-;)

Sami leans against the table in the locker room, using the hardwood surface as an anchor as he wiggles out of his tights, the sweaty material sticking to his skin in the most unpleasant of ways. Finally freeing himself with one last pull, he lets out a breath of relief as the cool air in the locker room washes over his clammy skin.

“Okay, shower. Like immediately.” Sami says decisively to no one, nodding in agreement to his own statement as he stuffs his exhausted body into sweat pants and a t-shirt.

“I wouldn’t count on a shower if I were you. All this place has is a garden hose out back if you wanna wash off.” quips a voice behind Sami, making him turn around, a smile already leaping to his face at the newcomer.

“Hey Beef.” Sami says brightly, his smile dimming when he internalizes what Beef had said. “Wait, **what** , _really?_ ”

Beef nods, twirling his fork around in his instant noodle cup, stuffing an obnoxiously big bite in his mouth and pointing over at the nearby window.

“Yep. See for yourself.” he mumbles around the food in his mouth.

Sami closes the gap between himself and the window, pulling the ratty sheet that functions as a curtain to the side and gazing out. Sure enough, there was a line of sweaty, bruised wrestlers out next to the building, washing blood and dirt off themselves. Pierre was holding the hose and looking extremely put out, though Sami noted how he sprayed the wrestlers down with no more than a frown of dissatisfaction.

“Wow, Pierre looks thrilled to be on babysitting duty.”

Beef chokes a laugh into his ramen. “Yeah. He sure does take his whole ‘the holder of the major title has to be a role model to the boys’ thing seriously.”

Sami smiles fondly before letting the curtain fall. “Yeah he does. That gruff thing is just an act. He‘s secretly all squishy and soft hearted on the inside, under all that tough guy exterior.”

Beef throws the now empty cup in the nearby trash, wiping his hands on his jeans and chuckling.

“Man, what I wouldn't give to be there when you say that to his face.” Beef cocks his head at Sami, contemplating, “Although, he honestly wouldn't mind that kinda thing if you said it, I don‘t think. Not from you at least. You seem to get away with saying a lot of things most of us wouldn’t say.”

Sami can‘t help the involuntary flinch at that.

-I _wish_ -

Walking unsteadily across the room and thumping himself back up against the table, feeling weighed down suddenly, Sami closes his eyes against the sharp pangs of sadness filling him.

“What is up with you today Sami?” Beef asks suddenly, snapping Sami out of his momentary despair. Getting right up into Sami’s space, Beef plants a warm palm against Sami’s forehead, concern etched across his face.

Sami sighs under the physical contact, resisting the confusing and conflicting urges to either throw Beef’s hand off his skin or lean into the touch.

“It’s just been a rough couple of months you know? Stuff was super awesome for a bit and then **_everything_ ** went to hell and I just feel kinda-” Sami bites is lip, feeling that familiar sense of longing rise through his body, choking him up and making his heart ache.

“- _overwhelmed_ , you know?”

Beef takes his hand away but leaves it hovering in the air between them, like he is not sure weather to reach back out and touch Sami again or not.

“Sami, you’re not thinking of going back home again are you?” Beef asks, sounding genuinely distressed at the thought and Sami **should** be a better person than he is. But he isn’t, so the fact that Beef would be sad if Sami left makes Sami feel better.

-petty-

Sami smiles a bit, reaching out to briefly squeeze Beef’s fingers in what he hopes is a comforting gesture.

He doesn’t _know_ anymore. **Nothing** makes _sense_ and **_everything_** is-

“No, it’s not that big of a deal. I just feel a little off balance because-” Sami waves around vaguely, “- _things_. When everything calms down and I get some breathing room and perspective, all will be well. I just need to stop being so negative about everything and let stuff work itself out.”

Beef doesn’t seem as convinced as Sami. In fact he stares at Sami for a long, slightly uncomfortable moment after Sami stops speaking, watching him with more concern than Sami thinks is necessary, given the relative non-issue in question.

-everything is fine. I just need a little while to recover from-

“You sure about that?” Beef says slowly, like Sami won’t understand him if he talks too quickly.

Sami twists his fingers in the tights still clutched in his hand, ignoring the way the fabric stretches and strains under the abuse.

“ No. But I don't know what else to-” Sami makes a face.

- ** _hurts_** -

Giving a helpless shrug, Sami pushes away from the table abruptly, sniffing roughly and trying not to let the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes fall. Pulling in a breath through the lump in his throat, he takes a few steps away from Beef. Shooting him the best apologetic look he can muster thought the burning ache in his chest, Sami gives Beef a little wave, hoping he appears more together than he feels.

“You know, I think I’m gonna go try and get what I need, instead of sitting around being sad about not having it. See you later this evening?” Sami says, backing away and wiping at his eyes in vain.

Beef is still looking at him with concern, but he seems content to let Sami be. “Yeah, sure. You wanna come over and hang out tonight? We can go out-”

Sami clears his throat, feeling bad that he wants nothing more in the world than to _not_ be able to go anywhere with Beef.

-awful. mean. Beef is a good friend-

“Uh, maybe. I will hopefully have other plans Beef, sorry. I kinda want to get this thing with-”

Beef rolls his eyes and Sami feels a sharp pang of protective anger shoot through him and he has to resist the urge to bark at Beef about being rude to people who aren't around to defend themselves.

-it is a _very_ good thing that Kevin is not **here** -

Sami’s pretty sure that Beefs irritation has more to do with Sami’s inability to function than any issues Beef has with Kevin anyway.

“I know Sami, fuck. But I don’t think you two car wrecks working your shit out is gonna be that easy. Besides you and I both know that things don’t always work out when you try and sort through social situations.” Beef shoots Sami a wry smile, “But I think everyone knows that you won’t be happy until you and Kevin are on- well, Kevin isn’t on good terms with anyone-”

-not true, fuck _off_ Beef-

“-but you got the closest of any of us I think.”

Beef picks up his water bottle and starts absent mindedly flipping it up in the air, chuckling lightly. “Besides, if you make nice with him again, maybe he will stop glaring daggers at me all the freaking time.”

Which was odd, Sami had to admit. Sami had been sure that Kevin had no problems with Beef. But suddenly, for seemingly no reason at all, Kevin had started acting like he wanted to murder Beef in the middle of the locker room. Sami resisted the urge to feel bad about that, as Kevin’s ire directed at Beef seemed to coincide with Sami and Kevin’s disagreement over Kevin’s weird behavior.

Sami is not responsible for Kevin’s... Kevin-ness.

Sami shakes off his confusing thoughts, smiling back at Beef, feeling a little lighter than he had been in a while.

“Maybe. Nothing else to do but find out, yeah?”

Turning, Sami heads for the door, a skip in step that he hadn’t felt up to for the last few weeks.

“I’ll see you later Beef.”

* * *

“Hey! I thought you weren’t gonna-”

Sami sighs, feeling more exasperated than sad.

-why does **_everything_ ** have to be so difficult-

“Yeah, I thought so too- or at least I _hoped_ \- but Kevin’s not answering my calls, the **jackass**.” Sami says, frowning down at his phone as if it is to blame.

Beef claps him on the shoulder, his obvious intoxication making his touch rough.

“Aw, don’t worry about Steen, he’s a jealous prick who doesn’t appreciate you at all. Come on, I’ll get you a drink. What do you lightweights drink? You want a water or something else lame like that?”

Sami tries not to bristle at Beef’s insults-

-not your problem-

-but finds he can’t help himself.

“You don’t need to be rude Beef. Kevin is a jerk yeah, but I over reacted and he has obviously been upset about something lately and-”

A small part of Sami wanted to let Beef keep shit talking. A small, petty, very immature part of him that Sami was not overly fond of. Before he could really get going on reading a bemused Beef the riot act though, a voice called out from over towards the bar.

“Oh god, do we **have** to have this conversation _again_?”

Sami spots Dragon and Ex sitting at a greasy looking booth, nursing beers, a worrying amount of bottles already sitting in puddles of perspiration on the worn table.

Beef claps him on the back again-

-Sami is going to have a bruise there if this keeps up-

-and slings his arm around Sami’s neck, dragging him along towards their friends, gesticulating wildly with his beer bottle as they go.

“Oh give Sami a break! He’s heart broken can’t you _see?_ ”

Sami tries to keep a straight face, but Excalibur’s growing look of abject horror as Beef’s voice tips up at the end of his sentence is too much for Sami to deal with.

“Fucking **_please_ ** don’t start **_singing_** -”

Sami laughs as Beef lets him go and flutters around Ex, twittering enthusiastically (if _horribly_ out of tune), much to Ex’s exasperation. The look on his face alone speaks volumes about what he thinks of Beef’s singing prowess.

Dragon leans forward abruptly, throwing Beef a wad of cash, which hits the man in question on the head. He chirps excitedly, then seems to realize what he has in his hands and just blinks down at it for a minute, looking completely confused.

“Go buy us another round and stop that caterwauling for christs sake.” Dragon says impatiently, though there is less bite to his words than normal as he smirks down at Excalibur, who has at this point slammed his head down on the grubby table and is glaring daggers at Dragon.

Sami gets another enthusiastic hug before Beef is bouncing off toward the bar, shrilly humming some tune Sami doesn’t recognize as he goes.

Chuckling, Sami drops down on the booth bench.

“Giving him beer is like giving a four year old sugar.” Sami says, waving off Dragon when he tips his head toward the bottles of beer.

Excalibur tilts his head in Sami’s direction, “He’s only had the one beer, the fucking lightweight.”

Dragon snorts, patting Ex not so comfortingly on the back and getting a vicious glare for his efforts. “You bought him a shot of tequila.”

Excalibur blinks at Dragon, confusion in his eyes, “No, I didn’t.”

Dragon grins, taking a drink, though still somehow smirking around the bottle neck at Ex.

“Yeah, you did.” Dragon mumbles around his beer. He manages to sound smug, much to Sami's astonishment.

Ex’s eyes widen and he shoots Sami a look, either to confirm or in suspicious of him as well.

Sami raises his hands in surrender. “Nope, I just got here. I didn’t see anything or take part of any nefarious alcoholic shenanigans. I am completely innocent of all charges.”

That seems to placate Excalibur for a moment, or so Sami thinks. Then Ex leaps up onto the booth seat, wobbling on his unsteady, drunken legs, and messily launches himself across the booth, tackling Dragon.

They knock a section of the booth back like it’s made of tissue paper. Sami watches in amusement as they disappear into the grimy bar darkness, the cacophony of the music and the back round hum of the patrons making it impossible for Sami to hear anything from them other that the occasional shouted swear word.

If he listens closely, Sami can also hear Beef, singing loudly along with the music, though Sami’s not convinced that the song Beef is singing is the one that is actually playing. Still, Beef’s enthusiasm is admirable. Sami catches sight of the goof, swinging away on what appears to be a makeshift dance floor, having apparently forgotten about getting more drinks.

-or he already drank them all-

Sami wonders if he should be worried, but he always is, yet his friends continue to not kill themselves with the copious amounts of alcohol they drink, so perhaps he worries about nothing.

- _always_ worry too much-

Sami sighs, feeling his earlier irritation rise against his will. Can’t he just enjoy a night out? Everyone else is having a good time, why can’t he?

Giving in-

- _ **always** _ give in-

-Sami pulls his phone out, sending another quick text before getting up.

It wasn’t like Kevin was going to answer him right now. He was having a tantrum-

-you _told_ him not to talk to you until he could act like-

-and Sami was going to have to wait on him to finish before they could work things out.

In the meantime, Sami was going to dance in this shady bar with his ridiculous friends.

-would _rather_ be with-

This was **_enough_**.

As he approaches the dance floor, Beef sees him and immediately pulls him into a swing that was completely at odds with the bassy club music currently blaring. Sami laughs out loud despite his dark thoughts.

It **_had_ ** to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Man, I gotta say, Kevin's parts are more interesting to write from a character standpoint in a way, but I have a new appreciation for Sami's point of view. It's SO much easier to establish universal rules and talk about cannon events from Sami's point of view, because he actually observes others and cares about them and what they think and he contemplates the world around him so much deeper than Kevin does.
> 
> Kevin can kinda be alright to world build with but it's so much harder since he's basically a 'if-it-doesn't-directly-effect-me-then-i-don't-give-a-shit' kind of person. Most Of Kevin's thoughts are centered inward and the only time they aren't is when someone has pissed him off or he's focused on winning something. I mean, I guess Sami is an exception to Kevin's self absorption, but that is more a constant hum in the back round, perpetually weaving its way through all of Kevin's thoughts and feelings and actions, it's not really something Kevin _thinks_ about explicitly (giggity), you know?


End file.
